How has play influenced your life? Did your parents play with you as a child?
I grew up in a household with two brothers and one sister. There was always someone to play with and always someone to get in trouble with. I remember playing "snake" one Sunday after church. We were probably not much older than this photo. We had made paper snakes in Sunday School. My mom was counting money in the backroom while we we were running in the sanctuary with the paper snake. It was Christmas time and the church was decorated. Can you see where this is going? I'm not sure which one of us did it, but someone ran into the tree. CRASH! The tree fell and the handmade ornaments were destroyed. Needless to say my mom was not too happy, and she was not too thrilled to tell the elderly lady that we wrecked her ornaments.
My mom was busy while we were growing up. She had cooking, cleaning, laundry etc to do for the family. She rarely played with us. However, even though she did not play with us, it was not her that I longed to play with us. It was my dad. I was jealous of dads that did things with their kids. It was apparent when my uncles would visit. They would be wrestling or playing basketball or going on bike rides with us. Where was my dad? Who knows? Probably sitting in the living room reading the newspaper or taking a nap.
Kids desire rough and tumble play. Normally, you receive this type of play from your fathers. However, I did not. To this day as I look for a mate, I look for someone who will play with their children. Play or the lack of play impacts us even into adulthood.